SAFAGA (Egypt), Feb 4: Almost 1,000 people were feared dead as chances dwindled on Saturday of finding many more survivors from an aging Egyptian ferry that caught fire and then sunk in the Red Sea.

Controversy mounted over the safety of the 36-year-old ship and survivors blamed the captain for refusing to turn around when a fire broke out shortly after the vessel left Saudi Arabia’s Duba port with 1,400 people on Thursday night.

Hundreds of relatives had gathered in Safaga upon hearing the news of the ship’s sinking, potentially one of the deadliest maritime disasters of recent years. Anger was mounting as little information on the fate of their loved ones filtered through.

A mob confronted riot police armed with truncheons and plastic shields by throwing stones. Another group had earlier managed to break the police cordons and rush towards the docks in search of their relatives.

“We are not afraid of the security forces,” said Dahi Abdallah Ahmed, who came to Safaga to look for his missing cousin Khaled, who had found a job in Saudi Arabia.

“We are a people that is used to not having any leadership in hard times. We solve problems our own way,” he said.

Maritime sources said 378 people from the Al Salam Boccaccio 98 had been pulled out of the sea alive, but only about 200 were confirmed to have reached the shores safe and sound.

A police official said on Friday that 185 bodies had been recovered and the death toll was expected to soar.

Only 145 survivors were brought to hospitals in Hurghada, a larger port north of Safaga, which was the ship’s port of destination, according to hospital official Imadeddin Hindi.

An official in Safaga said an additional 61 survivors arrived in Safaga early on Saturday, but only one body was taken to a morgue so far. The head of Duba port, Mahmud al Harbi, said 29 people were rescued by Saudi coast guards.—Agencies